Venture Capital Firms

VC Firm, Madrona Venture Group Invests $4.4 Million in Series B Funding for Animoto

Based in New York City, Animoto announced today that it had raised $4.4 million in Series B with Madrona Venture Partners leading the funding. Other investors who participated in this round of funding also include Jeff Clavier’s Tech VC and Bruce Livingstone, and Amazon.com. Animoto is a unique online video company that has launched its website in 2007, which allows users to upload pictures and make videos set to music. Users can also upload their own music files and edit the videos on the provided online software provided by Animoto.

Animoto was founded by seasoned media and entertainment industry veterans who are passionate about developing technologies that would allow people to be able to tell their stories and express themselves online.

Proceeds from this funding will go to fund the development and commercialization of Animoto’s innovative new video creating platform.

According to Brad Jefferson, Animoto’s CEO and cofounder, Animoto was founded on the basis of having a simple experience for users and a business model that is effective and clear, by allowing users on Animoto to be able to create professional quality videos to express themselves. Furthermore, another token of Animoto’s exceptional growth is that it has generated a base of raving fans and the company has had positive cash flow since December of 2008. Mr. Jefferson also added that he needed to express his gratitude to Madrona, because of its leadership and its funding of the company, Animoto is at where it is at today.

In 2007, Animoto launched its video creation platform to the public for the first time and since then, the company has recorded over 750,000 registered users. Another example of their success is that among those 750,000, 10% of them have paid for the premium services offered by Animoto. Furthermore, Animoto has also launched an app for the iPhone, which has recorded over 300,000 users, and Facebook users can also use a Facebook app from Animoto. The recorded number of registered Animoto users on Facebook reach well over two million.

The driving force in Animoto’s unique platform is the Animoto Cinematic Artificial Intelligence Technology, which is an online application that actually thinks and works like both a director and editor; furthermore, this application is also designed to generate a professional grade video that is like those produced for both the television and film industries. The audio editing capabilities for this application are also amazing, in that it can spot every nuance of a song for audio background. This innovative application can find the genre, song structure, rhythm, instrumental details and vocal. The video editing application provided by Animoto generates the video in DVD quality.

Founded in 1995, Madrona Venture Group is a vc firm that primarily invests in early stage companies in the tech industry. Madrona invests in all sectors of the tech industry, including consumer internet, commercial software and services, digital media and advertising, and wireless. Some companies in Madrona’s portfolio include Borrow or Steal, BuddyTV, TeachStreet, Amazon.com, Aptio, Adready, ThinkFire, SinglePoint, and others.

For more information about Animoto, click here.

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